04/02/03:
Drove from Vilasia out US-63 and up CA-180 early this morning. Entered the 25 mile drive through the northern part of the Sequoia National Monument. The monument is large but all you have is road access; no side roads, trails, etc. The road seems pretty much the same as the southern section except no commercial and only a couple residential properties.
I started running into ground snow around 5000 feet and by 6000 feet it was actually snowing and some new snow on the ground. By the time I got to the Kings Canyon National Park entrance I had passed a large snow plow coming down the hill plus several trucks with a couple of inches on the hoods and tops. It was still snowing and roads were slushy and fog and heavy clouds had moved in. Since I also needed repairs done on the truck I turned back and spent the rest of the morning at a Dodge dealer getting a new water pump installed. If the clouds clear up I'll try again tomorrow.
04/03/03:
A fair amount of rain down in the valley yesterday afternoon and last night. Figured there'd be a fair amount of snow in the mountains and I wasn't far wrong. Got to Kings Canyon National Park about 8:30am giving the snow plows a chance to clear some of the snow off the roads. They had a few inches last night and most of it had been removed. Still a lot of ice and frozen slush on the roads though.
Beautiful drive through snow covered pines. Just a few Ponderosas and Sequoias though. And that was the extent of my visit. Everything but the lodges was closed as were any sides roads. I didn't get to see Kings Canyon because that road was closed too. The road to Sequoia National Park was open yesterday but closed today. So I left. Will come back some other time, probably in the fall on my way south.